No. 5 Seed Bison Get Rematch With Western Illinois in Summit League Quarterfinals

THIS WEEK:  The No. 5-seeded North Dakota State men's basketball team (17-12) is scheduled to face No. 4 seed Western Illinois (16-13) at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 4, in the quarterfinals of the Summit League tournament at Sioux Falls Arena (6,300) in Sioux Falls, S.D.  It will be a rematch of NDSU's regular-season finale, which Western Illinois won 77-64 in Fargo.  The winner advances to face either No. 1 Oral Roberts or No. 8 IPFW in the semifinal round at 6 p.m. Monday, March 5, and the championship is at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 6.
Saturday, March 3
Game 1 - No. 1 Oral Roberts vs. No. 8 IPFW, 6 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit Plus]
Game 2 - No. 2 South Dakota State vs. No. 7 IUPUI, 8:30 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit Plus]
Sunday, March 4
Game 3 - No. 4 Western Illinois vs. No. 5 North Dakota State, 6 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit Plus]
Game 4 - No. 3 Oakland vs. No. 6 Southern Utah, 8:30 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit Plus]
Monday, March 5
Game 5 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3, 6 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit]
Game 6 - Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:30 p.m. [Midco Sports Net/FCS Central/FS Detroit]
Tuesday, March 6
Championship - Monday's winners, 8 p.m. [ESPN2/ESPN3]

TELEVISION:  Midco Sports Net will televise all of the Summit League quarterfinal and semifinal games live for the second straight season with Tom Nieman calling the play-by-play and Brad Newitt as analyst.  All of the quarterfinal and semifinal games will be distributed nationally for the first time on Fox College Sports Central, the quarterfinals will be on FS Detroit Plus, and the semifinals will be on FS Detroit.  Tuesday night's championship game will be live on ESPN2 and ESPN3 with Clay Matvick handling the play-by-play and Bob Valvano as analyst.

RADIO:  KFGO-AM 790 of Fargo will broadcast live with KFGO's Scott Miller calling the play-by-play and NDSU director of sales and broadcasting Jeremy Jorgenson as color analyst.  Coverage begins 20 minutes before tipoff with a free audio stream available on GoBison.com and through the NDSU Bison mobile app for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch with a one-time premium purchase of $4.99.

INTERNET:  Live video for all of the quarterfinal and semifinal games is available by subscription on TheSummitLeague.org.  Prices are $3.99 for a 24-hour pass, or $9.99 for all three days.  The championship games will be streamed exclusively on WatchESPN.com.  Live stats will be available on GoBison.com free of charge and through the NDSU Bison mobile app for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch.

TICKETS:  Tickets for the Summit League basketball championships may be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com, in person at the Sioux Falls Arena box office, or by calling toll free 1-800-745-3000.  For more information, call (605) 367-7288.
All-Sessions: $93 reserved, $76.50 general admission (14 games)
Quarterfinal or Semifinal Single-Session: $15.25 reserved, $12.75 general admission (2 games)
Women's Championship: $15.25 reserved, $10.25 general admission (1 game)
Men's Championship: $15.25 reserved, $10.25 general admission (1 game)
Summit League Students: $10 per session with valid Summit League school ID
(Additional taxes and fees may apply.)

THE SERIES:  Sunday will be the 11th meeting between North Dakota State and Western Illinois dating back to 2007-08.  NDSU leads the series 6-4 but the Bison have dropped three of the last four including a 55-51 defeat in Macomb in the league opener Dec. 1 and a 77-64 loss last Saturday in Fargo.

Monday would be the 15th meeting between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts dating back to 1967-68.  ORU has won seven of the last eight and leads the series 9-5 including an 89-80 win in Tulsa on Jan. 5 and an 85-76 victory in Fargo on Feb. 4.  The Golden Eagles knocked NDSU out in the quarterfinals each of the past two seasons, including a 65-64 overtime win in 2010 and a 72-65 victory in last year's tournament.

Monday would be the 15th meeting between North Dakota State and IPFW dating back to 2005-06.  The Mastodons have won five of the last six to take an 8-6 lead in the series.  NDSU won 84-68 in Fargo on Dec. 30 and IPFW won 75-66 in Fort Wayne on Jan. 26.

BISON IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT:  North Dakota State is playing in its fourth straight Summit League tournament since becoming postseason eligible in 2008-09, and NDSU's No. 5 seed is the highest since entering as the No. 1 seed and winning the 2009 tournament.  The Bison were sixth for the 2010 tournament and seventh in 2011 and lost to Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals both years.

FIFTH SEED HISTORY:  No. 5 seeds have a 17-26 record in the Summit League men's basketball tournament, including a 1-1 record each of the past four seasons.  The fifth seed has not appeared in the championship game since the inaugural tournament in 1984 when Western Illinois beat No. 4 Eastern Illinois, No. 1 Illinois-Chicago and No. 7 Cleveland State to win the championship in Springfield, Mo.  Only one lower seeded team has won the Summit League tournament: No. 7 seed Oakland beat No. 1 seed Oral Roberts in 2005.

IN THE NCAA STATS:  North Dakota State ranked fifth in field-goal shooting percentage (.492) and 49th in 3-point shooting percentage (.372) and scoring offense (73.8 ppg) in the NCAA Division I statistics through Sunday, Feb. 26.  Individually, Mike Felt was 18th in 3-point percentage (.433).

NCAA Team Field Goal Percentage, through Feb. 26
1. Creighton - .508
2. Iona - .502
3. Middle Tennessee State - .498
4. Missouri - .497
5. North Dakota State - .492

NDSU 147th IN NCAA RPI:  North Dakota State was No. 178 in the NCAA Rating Percentage Index released Monday, Feb. 27.  NDSU was fourth in The Summit League behind Oral Roberts (42) and South Dakota State (57) and Oakland (136).  Minnesota (85) was the only other Bison opponent in the top 100.

OPPONENTS HEATING UP FROM ARC:  North Dakota State went from first to last in The Summit League in 3-point defense over the last 10 league games, going 3-7 in that stretch.  NDSU was holding league opponents to .289 shooting from the arc through the first eight league contests, but that number ballooned to .410 with opponents shooting 45 percent or better in nine of the last 10.  The Bison allowed a season-high 63.2 percent at UMKC, which went 12-for-19 from the arc, and 62.5 percent to Western Illinois in the last contest.

GAMES MISSED:  North Dakota State has had four players miss time this year due to injuries or illness.  Senior forward Eric Carlson missed one exhibition and the first nine regular-season games with a broken jaw suffered Nov. 1 against Minnesota State Moorhead.  He had his jaw wired shut for four weeks and returned Dec. 17 against Mayville State with four points and a game-high nine rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.  Joel Lindberg missed Dec. 30 vs. IPFW (head), Jan. 5 at Oral Roberts (head), and Jan. 28 at Oakland (illness).  Dylan Hale missed Jan. 14 vs. South Dakota (head) and Feb. 15 at South Dakota State (ankle).  Nate Zastrow missed Feb. 18 vs. Western Michigan (foot) and will be out the remainder of the season.

SCORING DEFENSE AMONG BEST IN PROGRAM HISTORY:  North Dakota State's scoring defense is one of the best in the program's modern era dating back to 1950.  NDSU's 68.4 points allowed per game would rank 12th in school history over a span of 62 seasons.
NDSU's Top Scoring Defenses, since 1950
58.1 - 1950-51 (8-15, 3-9 NCC)
59.8 - 1951-52 (17-11, 10-2 NCC)
62.6 - 1957-58 (9-14, 5-7 NCC)
64.0 - 2006-07 (20-8)
64.9 - 1985-86 (16-12, 9-9 NCC)
65.2 - 1952-53 (10-12, 5-7 NCC)
66.3 - 2005-06 (16-12)
67.4 - 1993-94 (21-9, 14-4 NCC)
67.4 - 1987-88 (19-9, 10-8 NCC)
67.4 - 1986-87 (19-9, 12-6 NCC)
67.6 - 1961-62 (8-17, 4-8 NCC)
68.4 - 2011-12 (17-12, 9-9 Summit)

BEST START IN 11 YEARS:  North Dakota State started the season 2-0 for the first time since November 2002 and with six straight wins made NDSU's best start since the 2000-01 Bison won their first seven straight under current Creighton coach Greg McDermott.  The six straight wins to start the season was the fourth most in Summit League history and last done by South Dakota State last year before NDSU beat the Jackrabbits 82-75 in Brookings.
Most Consecutive Wins to Start a Season
Summit League, All Games
1.  9, Northern Illinois, 1994-95
2.  8, Oral Roberts, 2004-05
3.  7, Illinois-Chicago, 1990-91
     7, Green Bay, 1991-92
5.  6, North Dakota State, 2011-12
     6, South Dakota State, 2010-11
     6, Oral Roberts, 2002-03

BRAUN MVP, TWO OTHERS ALL-TOURNEY:  North Dakota State guard Taylor Braun was named Most Valuable Player of the Hilltop Challenge and Bison guards Mike Felt and Lawrence Alexander were also named to the all-tournament team.  Braun averaged a team-high 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.  He notched a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds against San Francisco in the opener and shot 68 percent from the floor and 86 percent from the foul line for the weekend.  Felt averaged 13.7 points and was 9-for-19 from the 3-point line for 47 percent.  He led NDSU in scoring twice off the bench with 18 points against Louisiana-Lafayette and 17 against Northern Arizona.  Alexander averaged 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists and nearly got a triple-double in his collegiate debut with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists against San Francisco.

YOUNG GUNS, PART 2:  North Dakota State's roster includes 10 underclassmen this year with a combination of seven sophomores and three freshmen.  Two of those sophomores could be juniors by now, but Mike Felt was granted a hardship year in 2009-10 with an early foot injury and Jordan Aaberg sat out all of last season to recover from a concussion.  This is the youngest team NDSU has fielded since listing 13 underclassmen in both 2005-06 and 2006-07.  NDSU held the distinction of being the youngest team in the nation in 2005-06, but the Bison are not even among the top 10 this year.  UC Irvine, Navy and Texas Tech are the three youngest teams in America, in order, based on years of experience per player.

FOREIGN TOUR:  North Dakota State, with seven sophomores and three freshmen on its roster, got its youthful team a jump-start on the season with a two-game trip to Winnipeg in August as part of a once-in-four-years foreign tour allowed under NCAA rules.  The Bison held 10 practices before going to Canada and beating Manitoba 97-56 and Winnipeg 89-42.  NDSU's only other foreign trip was to Winnipeg and Toronto in 2005-06.  NDSU had four freshmen and one junior in its starting lineup that year and went 16-12 overall including a 62-55 win in January at No. 13/15-ranked Wisconsin.

OVERTIME GAMES:  North Dakota State is 7-5 in overtime games since joining The Summit League in 2007-08, including a 1-1 mark in OT this year.  NDSU won 72-69 at Southern Utah on Jan. 7 but lost at home to South Dakota State 91-88 on Jan. 21.

CLOSE GAMES:  North Dakota State has played more close games the last two seasons than any other years in the program's Division I history.  NDSU is 5-5 this year in games decided by five points or less, an improvement from last year's 2-8.

FOUR STARTERS BACK:  North Dakota State returned four players who started at least 20 games for last year's 14-15 team that placed seventh in The Summit League with an 8-10 record.  NDSU had three of its top four scorers back including senior forward Eric Carlson (10.1 ppg), sophomore forward Marshall Bjorklund (8.7 ppg) and sophomore guard Taylor Braun (8.2 ppg).  The other returning starter was senior guard Drew Lundberg (8.0 ppg).  The Bison graduated their leading scorer and second team All-Summit League forward Michael Tveidt (15.3 ppg), who plays for the Iowa Energy in the NBA Development League.

BISON PICKED FIFTH IN SUMMIT:  North Dakota State was picked to finish fifth out of 10 teams in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media.  Oral Roberts received 27 of 32 first-place votes as the preseason favorite, two-time defending champion Oakland had four votes in second place, South Dakota State was third  with one top vote, and IUPUI was fourth ahead of NDSU.  IPFW, UMKC, Southern Utah, Western Illinois and first-year member South Dakota rounded out the poll in order.

THE SUMMIT LEAGUE:  This is North Dakota State's fifth season in The Summit League after spending three seasons as a Division I independent.  Other members are Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC); Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.; Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.; University of South Dakota; South Dakota State University, Southern Utah University; and Western Illinois University.  The Summit League will drop to nine teams next year with the addition of the University of Nebraska Omaha from Division II and the departure of Southern Utah to the Big Sky Conference and Oral Roberts to the Southland Conference.

THE COACH:  Saul Phillips (Wisconsin-Platteville, 1996) is in his fifth season as head coach at North Dakota State with an 84-65 record.  Phillips directed North Dakota State to its first Summit League championship and NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 2009, and was one of 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.  A Bison assistant for three seasons, Phillips came to NDSU from Wisconsin, where he was director of basketball operations for three years under Bo Ryan.  He was an assistant for two seasons each at Milwaukee and Lake Superior State and a graduate assistant at Wayne State in Nebraska for one year.